# CureVac COVID vaccine let-down spotlights mRNA design challenges

- Link: https://www.widthness.com/curevac-covid-vaccine-let-down-spotlights-mrna-design-challenges/
- Published: 2021-06-19T09:30:33-05:00
- Author: Curated by Theresa Wysocki

Photo caption: A trial volunteer in Belgium receives a dose of CureVac’s vaccine. Credit: Yves Herman / Reuters / Alamy. Article by Elie Dolgin. Nature – June 18, 2021. Scientists are searching for explanations to disappointing final-stage trial results. These insights could help guide the future development of mRNA vaccines. Two vaccines made using messenger RNA (mRNA) have proved spectacularly successful at warding off COVID-19, but a third mRNA-based candidate has flopped in a final-stage trial, according to an initial report released this week. Researchers are now asking why — and some think that choices about the type of mRNA chemistry used might be to blame. Any insight could help to guide the future design of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 or other diseases. The company behind the beleaguered trial, CureVac, based in Tübingen, Germany, announced preliminary data on 16 June from a 40,000-person trial, which showed that its two-dose vaccine was just 47% effective at preventing disease. […] Click here to view original web page at www.nature.com